<Dear Administrator,
Can I make a suggestion of topics for this weeks' discussion so we can move
to a more progressive approach:
1. How can we assist (in any method) to improve communication network i.e.
internet, phones.wifi,wimax in GOA.
2. How can we set up a system including desalination to guarantee drinking
water in Goa ( forget the weels they are almost all polluted by groundwater
contamination)
3. How can we ensure that people who have a motor vehicle have a valid
driving license after doing the driving tests and did not bribe anyone?
4. How can we improve the Health response time with ambulances or 24 hour
TRAUMA centre in GOA.
5. How can we arrest criminals who sell real estate with so called POA
(Powers of Attorney) and have no legal capacity to convey title.
Thank you
Dr. Joaquim De Souza>[May 26]
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Let me take the liberty of responding to this as a fellow goanetter and not
in any "official" capacity. I would also like to preface my comments by
sharing some personal experiences on a couple of forums other than goanet
(basically by virtue of email membership).
In one such forum, lengthy and learned articles appear regularly and one is
allowed to post responses (within clear space limits) including replies to
responses of others. These responses take 48 hours to appear. Some subjects
have been known to attract 50 or more such responses but mostly there are
just four or five if any.
In another forum, your response appears instantaneously -- soon after you
hit the "send" button. On this forum you can even initiate a discussion by
posting the first message. But I find the postings to be largely inane and
vacuous. Most initial messages do not receive any responses whatsoever.
Recently I conducted a monologue over 5 messages of my own spread over many
days!
Compared to these, (and I am open to any correction)goanet appears to be a
forum of "leaderless group discussion". Anybody can post a message broadly
pertaining to Goa and it is up to others to pick up on the thread and
discuss until it fades out naturally in due course.
All the questions you have posed are vital and valid and could conceivably
be raised individually on goanet depending on your personal preference. Some
of them may even be amenable to grouping (e.g around "health" or other such
relevant category). But there is no guarantee the topic will "fly" on goanet
let alone converge on some practical solution. We just have to be prepared
to take our chances!
Why is this so? Some of the problems may basically involve getting people to
do their jobs the way it is supposed to be done. Others may involve
launching into a scientific or technological process. These things may be
beyond the scope of a "talk shop" like goanet where one can only hope to
create a new mindset ("social capital" in the grand vision of some
persons). Action may be possible only if organisations require key members
to participate in goanet and use relevant inputs generated therein. The
nearest "actionable" linkages I can think of may be with other media such as
the press or TV news or even the PR arms of some organisations.
Hence the "progressive approach" that is being advocated for discussion may
make goanet a forum which is fundamentally different from what it presently
is. How feasible would this be in the short run?
